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The Ciancaglini Family
The Ciancaglini's are a group of family members (a father and his three sons) who are or were prominent members of the Philadelphia crime family. Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini, Sr. The father, Joe Ciancaglini Sr., became a member of the Philadelphia crime family in the 1970's alongside John Grande, father of mob soldier Salvatore "Wayne" Grande. Joe Sr. worked as a soldier in Frank Sindone's crew and was a chief enforcer in Sindone's loansharking operation. In 1980, Joe Sr. was ordered to kill Sidone for his part in the murder of family don Angelo Bruno. Joe, Sr. was then promoted to Capo (Captain) of Sidone's crew. In 1981, he was charged with racketeering, loan sharking and participating illegal gambling operations. He was released on bail while the trial was delayed. In 1983, he was convicted of illegal gambling and began serving a 10 year sentence. While imprisoned, Joe Sr. was charged in a second racketeering indictment in 1988 and found guilty of racketeering charges. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was imprisoned during the second Philadelphia war, but two of his sons (one killed, the other maimed) were causalities of the war. He was released to a halfway house in late 2014 after serving 30 years in prison. He was released from federal custody on May 5, 2015. While he is still close to the Philadelphia family, he is believed to be retired. Joseph "Joey Chang" Ciancaglini, Jr. Joseph is the middle child of the Joe, Sr. In 1991 Giovanni Stanfa became the new boss of the Philly mob and was met with opposition by a group of young thugs led by Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, Stanfa tried to make peace with the so called "Young Turks", who were dissatisfied with Stanfa being the boss of the family because he was considered an outsider, amongst other reasons. Stanfa was often seen on social occasions and mob meetings with Joey Merlino and in September Stanfa held a secret ceremony in which Merlino, Michael Ciancaglini and Biaggio Adornetto were inducted into the Philadelphia Family as made members. It was around this time that he also made the 33 year old Joseph "Joey Chang" Ciancaglini Jr. underboss of the family in the interest of promoting peace between the two factions. For a while peace prevailed in the Philly mob, but not for long, in 1993, an all-out war broke out between Stanfa and Skinny Joey Merlino, who was eager to take control of the Philadelphia crime family on his own. In March 1993 the Merlino faction struck by attempting to murder Joey Chang in a diner he owned. He was badly wounded and was left partially paralyzed and with nerve damage. The attempted mob hit was the first caught on FBI surveillance footage. Due to being incapacitated, Joey Chang retired from the Mafia. Michael "Mikey Chang" Ciancaglini Michael is the youngest of the Ciancaglini brothers. During the Stanfa-Merlino mob war, Mikey Chang served as Joey Merlino's underboss. In 1993, 2 gunmen chased Michael inside his house and unloaded their weapons into the building. In retaliation for shooting Joey Jr, Stanfa hitmen John Veasey and Philip Colletti perpetrated a drive-by shooting on Merlino and Michael as they were standing on a street corner. Merlino was hit four times in the leg and buttocks and Michael was hit one time in the chest, killing him. John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini John is the oldest of the Ciancaglini brothers. John was in prison for extortion during the Stanfa-Merlino war. Having a brother on each side of a mob war, John tried to help mediate the situation from behind prison. John was released in 1995, 17 months after Michael was killed. John sided with the Merlino faction and killed William Veasey. Veasey's brother John was the shooter in the Michael Ciancaglini murder. John got a "brother for brother" revenge for Michael. Afterwards, Merlino inducted John into the Philadelphia crime family. In 2000, John was arrested alongside Merlino, George Borgesi, Martin Angelina, Steve Mazzone and Angelo Lutz for racketeering. John was convicted of racketeering, but acquitted of murder. He was released from federal custody on February 1, 2008. He is believed to be the current acting underboss of the family. Category:Philadelphia crime family Category:Capos Category:Murdered Mobsters Category:Soldiers